The
New York Daily News reported today that former Knicks coach Isiah
Thomas, who is now the coach at Florida International, is working to
help lure New Orleans Hornets star Chris Paul to the Knicks once his contract expires after the 2012 season.
Continue reading “Isiah Thomas working to lure Chris Paul to Knicks” »
Before the NBA’s owners and players’returned to their respective corners on Thursday — the owners in Dallas, the players in Las Vegas — to regroup following Tuesday’s negotiating session that ended with the lockout still very much intact, president Derek Fisher sent out an email to his colleagues asking for solidarity.
The email, first printed by SI.com, challenges the faction of player agents who wish to decertify and it also hints that there may be some division growing between the league’s 29 owners.
"The most recent meetings in New York were effective," Fisher wrote. "What you have been told by your agents, representatives and the media is probably speculative and inaccurate. Continue reading “Derek Fisher: Rift among owners” »
Whenever the Miami Heat come together after the NBA lockout, power forward Chris Bosh said Wednesday they still must come together as a team.
Reflecting on both the work stoppage and his team being stopped two victories shy of a championship by the Dallas Mavericks in last season’s NBA Finals, Bosh found himself in an introspective mode during an appearance on ESPN Radio’s "Mike & Mike in the Morning."
Continue reading “Chris Bosh says Miami Heat season, 'More lows than highs'” »
With NBA lockout talks stalling in New York, the Warriors on Wednesday held an old-fashioned revival at Oracle Arena.
In his first meeting with Warriors fans, new coach Mark Jackson started
an impromptu chant of "De-fense" among a confused audience, which has
rarely heard that word while missing the playoffs 16 of the past 17
seasons.
Continue reading “Warriors brass tell fans of bold plans for future” »
I am tweeting from afar on today’s lack of progress in NBA labor
negotiations, and I am not the least bit surprised that everyone is
emerging from the meeting in New York spewing doom and gloom.
That is what always happens when the owners’ and players’ full
bargaining committees get together. It is a total dog-and-pony show, and
anyone who expected the sides to emerge today with a sense of optimism
was fooling themselves. Continue reading “NBA Lockout: Don’t panic, they are posturing” »
The interactions at times sparked contentiousness.
Shaquille O’Neal once yelled out in the middle of a pre-season game for
Lakers owner Jerry Buss to "pay me." Skeptical of O’Neal’s injury
history and his $30-million-a-year asking price, Buss traded him in
2004. The immediate aftermath entailed Shaq taking swipes at Buss’
playboy lifestyle.
That’s all water under the bridge at this point. Once O’Neal announced
his retirement June 1 after a storied yet underachieving 19-year career,
Buss released a statement thanking Shaq for his contributions to the
Lakers’ three-peat (2000-2002). The Lakers also announced they would
retire his No. 34 jersey at an undetermined time. And as O’Neal told
radio/TV personality Dan Patrick on Tuesday morning, Buss has called
Shaq directly about his number retirement. Continue reading “Shaquille O'Neal says Jerry Buss called about number retirement” »
Evans, the Sacramento Kings’ guard from Chester, said today that he is
hoping to play for Team Philly when it takes on a team put together by
Carmelo Anthony on Sept. 25 at the Palestra.
"I would love to play in the game," Evans told the Daily News today at
an appearance in Chester. "Why not? What else is there to do." Continue reading “Tyreke Evans wants in at Palestra exhibition” »
Let’s suppose for a second that the NBA and its players each experience the proverbial ‘Come to Jesus’ moment in the next week or so and agree on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The 2011-12 season would then start on time, right?
Well, yes, it would. But it also could well start with plenty of unfamiliar faces on the floor. That’s because a big part of the NBA “game presentation” as David Stern likes to call it is, at present, also without a contract for next season.
That would be the 60 NBA referees.
Continue reading “Refs lockout next?” »
The NBA labor talks concluded their most active period since
the lockout began and entered a new, crucial phase Thursday: a week of
meetings that are growing in size and importance that ultimately
could determine the fate of the 2011-12 season.
After a second straight day of negotiations totaling 11 hours with
only the heaviest hitters in the room, league and officials
emerged to announce they’re calling their full bargaining
committees to the city next week to weigh in. The full contingents
from the owners’ labor relations committee and the players’
executive committee will meet Tuesday morning, to be followed by a
previously scheduled owners’ meeting in Dallas and a meeting of
players the same day in Las Vegas — both on Sept. 15. Prior to
Tuesday’s larger meeting, top negotiators from both sides will
brief their constituents on where the talks stand after a
comparative whirlwind of bargaining that began Aug. 31. Continue reading “Labor talks enter phase that could determine next season's fate” »
(When the lockout ends, the Miami Heat will be limited to no more than
the mid-level exception to spend in free agency, which should fall
somewhere in the $5.5 million range. That’s if it exists at all in a new
collective-bargaining agreement. Otherwise, there might only be the
veteran minimum to spend, which would be roughly $1 million for 2011-12.
This is the 10th in a series of evaluations of potential free-agent
targets.) Continue reading “Miami Heat ‘Free-agent Focus’: Eddy Curry” »